


Conduct of a Tepes

by BlackBirdAolen



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), Castlevania (TV), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Childhood, Gen, Growing Up, Mild Spoiler Potential, learning, spoiler warning, stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 22:19:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11472816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackBirdAolen/pseuds/BlackBirdAolen
Summary: A short scene of what I imagine it was like for Alucard to grow up with a vampiric father and a human mother.(Spoiler potential? I don't know. It is not related directly to anything in the series, but I guess I'll put it up anyways.)Got a fanfic idea for me?My deviantART - full of original fiction.Snippets and ramblings on my tumblr.





	Conduct of a Tepes

Even with a loving mother at his side and a supporting wife to his father, Alucard faced a rather uncomfortable environment at homes at times. He was aware that he was one of the very rare dhampirs, and thus had to be accordingly prepared, should he go out in public and be seen. But it was of no help that his father wanted to teach him all of this when he was barely old enough to understand what his parents were telling him. Lisa had to gently, but firmly, remind Vlad that it probably was not a wise idea to already put so much expectations upon the shoulders of their young son.

“I’m sorry, Lisa, but I’m also painfully aware that Wallachia offers many a troubling worry for a young dhampir. You should be aware that there is a family which does not approve of our kind.”

Lisa gave a short huff, but she looked worried nonetheless. “I know. Sadly, it will be quite impossible to make them understand the bond you and I share. But for the time being, our son should not be in danger at all. He is safe within the confines of the castle.”

“But it is no life for a dhampir, and neither is it for a vampire, to be confined to a single place for a long time.”

Lisa chuckled quietly, because she had caught Vlad in a contradiction. “That is quite the opposite of what you practiced for many years, my dear husband. Wasn’t it you who locked himself away from the world, for the exact purpose of being far away from the humans around him? And only have as little interaction with them as somehow possible?”

Vlad looked slightly taken aback, and Alucard couldn’t help a small snicker. “Well…” The vampire looked a little uncomfortable, and gave Alucard a small scolding look. “It happened for a good reason. I had no one to properly interact with, unless I wanted to see them shake in fear, or grab the nearest object to bash against my head.”

“I suppose there was absolutely no reason for humans to react towards you this way at all.” Lisa smiled, tugging lightly at Vlad’s clothes to straighten out just a very small crease. “I think, my dear husband, you might be a little too worried. But in the light of how much mistrust is floating around recently, and with the conflict stemming from the church’s side, we should watch out a little more with young Alucard.”

Alucard looked back and forth between his parents, puzzled as to what this exchanged meant. They often spoke about confusing things, and even if they did their best to explain everything to him, it didn’t change the fact that there was still a lot the young fangling didn’t understand. There were the times when his father wouldn’t return until shortly before sunrise, or the times his mother would be gone for a whole week, in which time his father taught him about fighting and using his instincts. They sometimes were complete opposites, but most of the time, they found a common ground, and then took Alucard in their midst and educated him.

After one such lesson from his father, Alucard was left wondering if his mother wasn’t a little too careless with humans. He had heard many a story from his father, of how gruesome humans could be. Vlad had a very colorful way of describing the many otherwise indescribable things to the young dhampir. It didn’t make the dhampir feel afraid, but it left him worried about what humans could do. He felt that, unlike what some would say, that a human had much more potential for evil than a vampire.

“Is mother safe out there?” Alucard had pressed against his father, in one of the rare moments Vlad sat down and allowed his son to climb into his lap, to soak up the physical contact. “I’m terribly afraid of what could happen.”

“My dear boy…” Vlad gently stroke across the blond hair, shaking his head lightly. “Your mother is a very strong and independent woman. That is something that commands respect amongst other humans, and it makes her safer than you would think. Besides, she always wears her ring when she is out, so that everyone knows that there is a man in her life. They know that, unless they want to get into trouble, they shouldn’t mess with a fine woman like Lisa.”

“I don’t understand.” Alucard was still more confused. He was only 6 years old by this point, and though slightly more developed than a human child, he still wasn’t able to take in everything with some questions to still be asked. “If humans are really so terrible, then they wouldn’t keep themselves up with looking at that. They would just do what they can do to mother!”

Vlad realized that he might have made some of his descriptions too colorful for the young boy. If Lisa had known what exactly he told Alucard, she probably would have given him a good earful of it, and then reassured the boy there was not nearly as much to worry about as he thought. Maybe, then, he should give Alucard the same reassurance. It was only the right thing to do, and it better happened before Lisa found out that Alucard almost had nightmares because of the many scary things he had learned from his father.

“My boy, listen closely now. I know that I have told you a lot about the human world, but you have to remember that to everything, there is two sides.”

“That is what mother always says.” Alucard leaned his head to the side, thinking about it. “It’s like with a coin, yes? The two sides are on the same thing, but they can look completely differently.”

“Exactly.” Vlad stood, Alucard on his arms, and he carried the boy along a corridor. There, a row of paintings was displayed, each of them showing something different. Sometimes, it was a landscape, by day or by night, and sometimes, it was a person, drawn in great detail. Alucard knew the paintings, but that didn’t keep him from looking at them in awe any time he went by them. “It is the same with humans. For every story about the unspeakable things that humans are able to do, your mother could come up with something positive to say.”

Alucard looked up at him expectantly, and Vlad thought well about what he was going to say. “Take, for example, your mother. She is a doctor, and a highly skilled one. She possesses knowledge that barely any other doctor would, and like that, she is able to help a lot of people. Be it a mother struggling in childbirth, a young man wounded while in the woods, or a hunter, who had an encounter with a particularly ferocious animal. No matter what size or shape the wound, no matter if it is visible or not, your mother is able to help. And there are more people like her. Some of them possess great knowledge, others make do with what they have learned from their predecessors, and still are able to offer comfort and aid in time of need.”

“So, humans can be just as good as they can be bad.” Alucard thought it over. It was not that hard to imagine, or at least shouldn’t have been. But after all the stories his father had told him, it was a bit odd to hear so much positive about humans out of him for a change. Though, admittedly, much had been about Lisa. And his father never said a bad word about his mother.

“They can. It is sometimes hard to see, because the bad things stay with you for a while longer, but that doesn’t change the fact that there is just as much good as there is bad.”

“I understand.” Alucard then grimaced when he saw where his father had taken him. “Do I really have to learn all of this?”

“Yes.” Vlad chuckled, then sat Alucard down. “There is no way around it. So, sit down, and listen well to some of the stories. If you want to walk amongst the humans one day, there is a couple of things you will need to learn before that.”


End file.
